Lazlo Zand
Lazlo Zand was a scientist and Emil Lang's apprentice. Biography Zand was on Macross Island when the SDF-1 took off from Earth in 2009. In an alternate timeline caused by the Omega Comet, which caused the crash landing of the Voltron Lion Force on Earth and the disappearance of the SDF-1, Lazlo stayed on Macross Island and lead the research of the Voltron mecha alongside T.R. Edwards and Harry Penn. He discovered its unique Crystal power source as well as the flaw in the SDF-1's Fold Drives. In 2014, he was stationed on a base on the Island, where he met and informed Roy of what had happened. (Robotech/Voltron 2) This timeline was reverted after the Lion Force and the SDF-1 disrupted the comet. (Robotech/Voltron 5) : Robotech Masters)]] In 2012, after the First Robotech War, Zand was part of a counsel investigating Human-Zentraedi relations. When Rick disagreed with Exedore on whether humans were naturally war-bred, Zand reminded him that wars had happened on Earth before the Zentraedi. (Macross Saga: Robotech Masters) I Do!)]] Zand was an attendant of the wedding of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes on board the SDF-3. (Robotech II: The Sentinels: I Do!) Reports later surfaced that he had been killed. These were later told to be "exaggerated". At some point, he left the Earth behind, and became a head scientist for T.R. Edwards. (Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles) A year after Edwards betrayed the REF and damaged the SDF-3, he was captured by Rick Hunter during the REF's assault on Edward's hideout on Optera. Behind the scenes Lazlo Zand was created for the ''Robotech'' novelizations by the writing team of Jack McKinney. The character was intended to be an identification for a figure seen in Macross Saga: "Robotech Masters". The character, seen during a council meeting, bore a close resemblance to Emil Lang, and thus the new character was written to be a close associate. The resemblance to Lang most likely came from the fact that the character was meant to be Lang -- or more clearly, that the creators of the original Japanese program had intended the character to be the Chief Engineer. However, when dubbed in English for Robotech, the character was voiced by Barron instead of Greg Snegoff, possibly because Snegoff was unavailable and possibly because the creators simply didn't realize the connection (many other characters, such as Sparks, also suffered from having various voice actors due to this) Lang's voice, to some extent, has become more recognizable to most fans than his original appearance. This was an effect of his heavy focus within The Sentinels, where he had a totally different design. Because of this, it's possible to understand why someone would choose to interpret a character who looked like Lang but didn't sound like him to be a totally different person. Lang would go on to be a common character in the Masters run of the Robotech novels and has since been featured in many cameos in comic media. The most likely explanation for the presumed connection between Zand and Lang was the observed similarities in their eyes. In Robotech, various secondary media has retconned black eyes as a result of exposure to alien technology. However, fully black eyes are actually a stylistic quirk in some of Haruhiko Mikimoto's character designs. Characters with similar eyes have appeared in other series that he has worked on. Generally, this is seen as a common anime trope. Category:Scientists Category:Humans Category:Robotech Defense Force Category:Robotech Expeditionary Force